Published by University of Hawai'i Press, 2019, 358 pages “The work remains of breaking down myths and building up re-visioned ones that empower rather than demean. It remains to tell new stories that are really ancient ones, persisting in our blood, paradoxically and endearingly both familiar and breathtakingly novel, stories that deconstruct the lies and …
Month: September 2026
What We Can Know: Ian McEwan
Published by Jonathan Cape, 2025, 301 pages The United Kingdom, 2119. Tom Metcalfe, an academic, studies the 1990s to the 2030s, a period he romanticizes. Looking back, this was a time of plenty: when you could go into a supermarket and buy anything you wanted, walk for miles on dry ground, and be surrounded by …
Focusing on Fiji: An Interview with Nilima Rao
Nilima Rao is a Fijian Indian Australian writer. Her first book, A Disappearance in Fiji (2023), won the 2024 ALA Reading Award for Mystery Fiction; was one of Booklist’s Top 10 Debut Mysteries and Thrillers in 2024; Amazon Top 20 Debut in 2023; and Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine’s 2023 Best Debut Winner of the Year. …
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The Secret of Saint Olaf’s Church: Indrek Hargla
Translated from Estonian by Adam CullenPublished by Pushkin Press / Peter Owen Publishers, 2015, 364 pages. Original version published in 2010. Tallinn, 1409. A knight is beheaded and the murderer walks away, leaving no trace. To put the story into context: sea traffic between Estonia, Germany and Scandinavia was at an unprecedented level. This was …
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Concepcion—Conquest, Colonialism, and an Immigrant Family’s Fate: Albert Samaha
Published by Riverhead Books / Centre Point Pub, 2021, 384 pages. Published in the US as Concepcion: An Immigrant Family's Fortunes. “Our stories guide and protect us. Without their lessons, warnings, and triumphs to root us to the past, we float aimlessly, taken by whatever opportunistic forces are quickest to grab, mold, and exploit.” Albert …
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